The present invention relates to an improvement in the methods used to transport many types of small trailers such as ice fishing shelters, more commonly (and herein after) referred to as icehouses, and snowmobile trailers over snow covered and icy surfaces. More specifically, to a method of attaching the required number of skis to such a trailer by replacing a wheel on the vehicle or attaching a ski to the wheel by some alternative manner in such a way that does not necessitate any modifications to the trailer and which can be easily accomplished by an individual.
In the past, people have encountered a number of circumstances where it was necessary to transport a wheeled trailer over a snow packed or icy surface. The first of these was in positioning an icehouse in the desired location on the frozen surface of a lake or river. With this purpose in mind it was very common to mount fishing shelters or icehouses on wheels. These shelters are often moved out onto the ice at the beginning of the fishing season, may be moved about the ice during the season and then removed from the ice at the end of the season before the ice disappears. As ice fishing has gained in popularity, the size of shelters has increased accordingly requiring that many icehouses have full axles and wheel systems to move the icehouses from place to place. One of the problems associated with this has been that often times, in the beginning of the fishing season, the house may be moved out onto ice which later becomes snow covered and can be rather deep, making it very troublesome to remove the icehouse from the ice through the use of the wheels which allowed the ice house to be originally placed. Often times a trailer with skis must be brought out onto the ice or a sled mounted underneath an icehouse so that it may be slid or moved across the surface of the snow to remove it from the ice. Further, with heavier icehouses, plows must be brought out and a trail or road plowed to remove the icehouse from the ice.
The second common example of a wheeled trailer being dragged over snow covered and icy surfaces is the use of small trailers to transport snowmobiles. As snowmobiles are often used and transported around the same types of environments as the above described icehouses, the same sort of problems were encountered during their transport. That is to say, the relatively wide rubber tires that are commonly used in these applications work very poorly in these environments as they tend to push large amounts of snow in front of them in deep snow and lack any kind of directional stability on ice. Therefore, it would be convenient to find a way to easily modify an icehouse or small trailer such that it could be moved across a heavy snow covered surface to get to remote fishing spots as desired or to transport snowmobiles to similar locations.
From this discussion, it can be seen that it would be advantageous to provide a means of easily switching between wheels and skis on icehouses or other trailers as necessary. This method and device is disclosed below.
It is the primary objective of the present invention to provide a method by which icehouses or trailers can be transported over snow covered and ice surfaces allowing the ice fisherman to position an icehouse in a desired location on the surface of a frozen body of water.
It is an additional objective of the present invention to provide such a method of facilitating the transport of icehouses or trailers over snow covered or icy surfaces by allowing for the replacement of the existing transport wheels on the icehouse with a plurality of bidirectional skis.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide such a method of attaching skis to icehouses or trailers in such a manner that the procedure can be accomplished by a single person allowing for a high degree of flexibility during the use of the present invention.
These objectives are accomplished by the use of a relatively large and wide ski-like apparatus that can be easily and quickly attached to the axle, or axles, of the larger sized icehouses commonly used today. At this point, it should be stated that this device is equally useful with all types of trailers where it is desirable to move the trailer over a snow covered surface and switch readily between wheels on the trailer or skis. However, for simplicity, the rest of the application refers to icehouses only. As stated, it can be easily see that this device could be equally useful with any type of wheeled trailer without any changes or modifications. As such, this device should not be limited to use only with icehouses but could be used with any sort of trailer. The mounting of skis to the icehouse is accomplished by the use of a ski-like apparatus that is attached to a rim that corresponds in size and lug pattern to an icehouse""s existing rims. Therefore, once the icehouse has been transported to the desired body of water over roads or highways by the use of its wheels, the ice fisherman can raise the wheels off of the ground by the use of a common jack and replace the wheels with the present invention. The use of skis on snow covered or icy surfaces reduces the amount of friction created by the icehouse""s movement and thus, makes it easier to move it into position on the lake or river""s frozen surface.
The present invention itself is based on a tire rim (as described above) that has attached to it the bidirectional ski surface. This attachment is accomplished through the use of two heavy gauge steel rectangular plates that are mounted in a vertical fashion in regards to the short side of the described rectangle; one on the inside and one on the outside surfaces of the tire rim and extending in a downward manner. This configuration thus forms a rectangularly shaped support structure, the bottom side of which is attached to the bidirectional ski at its central flat portion. This attachment is also strengthened by the use of a plurality of attachment bars that extend laterally from each upper corner of the support structure to the outer corners of the angled ski surfaces. These attachment bars add strength and rigidity to not only the invention as a whole, but also function to hold the upper ends of the angled ski surfaces in the proper orientation to provide the bidirectional ski.
The ski surface itself is made of lighter gauge steel or other similar sheet material that is made up of a central flat area and two angled areas on either end of the central flat area. The cental flat area is the portion of the ski that contacts and slides over the snow or ice surface-and the angled surfaces allow the invention, and therefore the icehouse, to be moved either forwards or backwards without the edges of the skis digging into and collecting snow or ice. Additionally, the ski glide surface is also equipped with a tracking keel that extends for its length at its center and which provides direction stability during towing operations. Finally, the bidirectional design of the present invention allows the icehouse to be easily maneuvered into the desired position on the frozen surface of the lake or river.
Additionally, other methods of attaching a ski to an icehouse for transport over snow covered and icy surfaces are also possible. An example of this would be to build an adjustable box into which the tire of an icehouse can be placed and secured. The securement of the tire within the box could be accomplished in any number of ways, one of which would be to use an adjustable strap that is attached at either end to opposite sides of the box. This strap is then used to encircle the top half of an icehouse tire that has been placed in the above described rectangular box. With this accomplished, the strap is tightened around the tire which operates to hold the tire securely within the box.
This adjustable box serves the same additional function as the support structure that was described above which is to provide a means of attaching the ski to the remaining components of the present invention. Therefore, as in the previously described design, the invention serves to provide a means by which a bidirectional ski can be attached to an icehouse allowing it to be easily transported over snow covered and icy surfaces to be positioned in the desired location on the surface of a frozen lake or river.
For a better understanding of the present invention reference should be made to the drawings and the description in which there are illustrated and described preferred embodiments of the present invention.